County, State Leaders Break Ground on Regional Farmers Market

Town of Dickinson, NY – Broome County Executive Debbie Preston joined Legislature Chairman Jerry Marinich, members of Cornell Cooperative Extension staff and board of directors, local farmers and more to officially break ground on the new Year Round Regional Farmers Market.

The Farmers Market will be located behind the Cornell Cooperative Extension Building on Upper Front Street in the Town of Dickinson.

“We are happy to officially begin work on this new regional Farmers Market today,” says Broome County Executive Debbie Preston. “This has been a long time coming, but we wanted to make sure we had everything in place before we got this underway. I can’t wait to see new Farmers Market when it’s finished.”

“A lot of hard work went into getting this project off the ground and finally that work is paying off as we start construction on the new Regional Farmer’s Market,” said Legislature Chairman Jerry Marinich. “This state-of-the-art facility, with the help of the knowledgeable staff at Cornell Cooperative Extension, will better connect our community to our farmers.”

“Cornell Cooperative Extension of Broome County is looking forward to having a vibrant market that will bring people from all areas of the region to buy and sell in Broome County,” says Victoria Giarratano, executive director of Cornell Cooperative Extension. “The ability to support food access and aggregation of local products for larger markets will enable the Agriculture Community to move to the next level.”

“The Broome County Farm Bureau is pleased to partner with the Regional Famers Market Project. This is an incentive to have farms grow more food. This venture will assist younger and smaller farmers to establish business opportunities,” says Broome County Farm Bureau President David Johnson.

The Farmer’s Market will allow local farmers and community members the opportunity to buy and sell fresh produce and homemade goods all year round.

A commercial kitchen will be housed within the market to assist farmers to test and create products. These products will be developed, produced, marketed and sold within the region.

Work is expected to take place during the winter months and the new farmers market is expected to be open by late summer of 2016.

Work will be done by local contractors Keystone Associates, Fahs Construction Group, Schuler Haas, Petcosky and Sons, and Louis Picciano.